In Five Years Time, You Might Just Prove Me Wrong...

Hi Everyone.

Ten points if you got the reference in the title! It is of course from the lovely "Five Years Time" by Noah and the Whale. If you'd like to listen to that, here it is!

Tonight's post is a little bit different, a bit more personal. This is the time of year when a lot of people are starting a new phase in their lives, whether that is college, university, or anything else. Five years ago that was me!

In the summer of 2008 I spent about a month in Holland at my Dad's house contemplating what was about to happen. I was just about to turn 18 and my whole life was about to change! I was sat in the park opposite my Dad's house listening to music and suddenly this song came on and it seemed to explain my life perfectly. It was about how time changes, losing touch with people and never really knowing what the future will be. 

That was the moment where I decided to get my first tattoo. I went back to my Dad's, drew it onto a piece of paper and positioned it where I wanted to get it. Then I spent the rest of my holiday over there debating it, and then about a month later I turned 18 and decided I would definitely get it, and I did a few days after my birthday!

Here it is:

Tattoos are a very personal thing, and so I did debate putting a picture on here, as well as the fact that it's on my foot! There is a a lot of controversy at the moment about tattoos as well, sparked by Cheryl Cole revealing her huge one and, love them or hate them, we all have an opinion on them! My tattoo is very special to me and I still love it five years on.

But what I love more is the meaning behind it...

Five years before I had this tattoo done I was moving to Spain. I left my friends and my whole life behind and moved to a whole new country with a different language and culture and a new set of people. I hated it at first but as the years went by I grew up and ended up loving my life so much that I didn't want to leave!

When I got my tattoo, pretty much everybody asked me the same question: "so, what's happening in five years then?" I always say that the point is that you never know!

Since I got my tattoo so much has changed. In the last five years I have:

1. Graduated university with a 2:1 in law

2. Met the man of my dreams (yes, that's you Richard, you're bound to be reading this!)

3. Had a baby

4. Bought a house

5. Started a blog

6. Passed my driving test

And probably a load of other things I can't think of off the top of my head!

I guess what I'm trying to say in a rambling way is......

Whatever stage of life you're in, embrace it. Every moment you live through, good or bad, leads onto the next one and if you feel like you're drifting away from people and things then believe me: you're drifting towards something better! 

Here's to the next five years!

Do you guys have any tattoos? What life changing moments have you had? And have you marked them with anything special: a tattoo, piece of jewellery, clothing? Leave me a comment, I'd love to hear all about it!

Five Favourites: February!

Hi Guys,

Long time no see, right? I have been a terrible blogger. I went on holiday last week though so I think I can be forgiven! We just had a little mini-break in Wales and it was so lovely!

Anyway, less of the rambling from me. I'm going to get back in the swing of blogging next week, I have some swatches done so I can actually do some good posts! 

Here are my Five Favourites from the past month!

1. Valentine's Day:

Obviously with it being February, it was Valentine's Day. We didn't go over the top with our celebrations, we just had a nice meal and watched a film. It was perfect! Valentine's Day will always be special to me because it was our last day as just the two of us. It was the 15th of February 2011 that we found out we were going to be having our son, and our lives changed forever!

2. Spending some quality family time together:

This month I let blogging take a back seat somewhat and I'm glad that I did. I love writing this blog, and I'm so grateful to all of you who read my ramblings, but sometimes it's nice not to be glued to my computer at night!

3. Going away:

We went to Wales this month for four nights. We rented a little cottage in Pembrokeshire and it was just amazing. I haven't enjoyed a holiday that much in a very long time. The cottage was on a farm, so Caleb was able to feed the animals, and one day we went on a one and a half hour walk, it was lovely! We want to go back in the summer, it was perfect!

4. Getting things done:

One of the main reasons for our mini-break rather than a holiday abroad was because we have so much to do at home. We started painting my son's room and that's nearly done. We've bought a load of things for the house, and our chest of drawers is together. Not to mention I unpacked my clothes!!! I'd been living out of boxes and suitcases since the start of December and enough was enough!

5. My car passed its MOT:

I know this is a bit of a stupid one! I got my car in October and I love it so much. Anyway this month, Francoise had her MOT and she passed with flying colours! After taking nearly 4 years to take my driving test, my car is a huge thing to me! I was really worried it wouldn't pass, not that anything has gone wrong with it at all, but I was worried anyway... I couldn't stand it if it hadn't have passed. And it's lucky too, because my boyfriend's car has gone wrong twice in the last couple of weeks!

So that's it for February! It's been a good month! 

I hope you've enjoyed this post, thanks for sticking with me and see you after the weekend! 

Five Favourites: JANUARY!

Hi Everyone,

I had meant to post this last night, but I didn't get around to it. I started watching the soaps at about half past nine, and then I needed to get an earlyish night because I had to be up early for playgroup. 

It's time for my Five Favourites post for January! It only seems like yesterday that I was doing my 2012 Favourites!

1. My Dad came to stay:

Love this cushion, love everything here

At the start of the month, my Dad came over and stayed for week. I really wish I saw more of him, but with the North Sea in between us, it doesn't happen like that. It was so nice to see him, and now both of my parents have seen my house, so it's perfect!

2. I stayed with my Mum:

Credit:  cards here at Folksy

While my boyfriend has been away, I've been staying with my Mum. I was meant to stay for two weeks, but with the snow and then me getting ill again, I've ended up staying for four weeks! I'm leaving on Tuesday, but this month has really been good. It's been nice staying here, my Mum gets me into a decent eating routine, and she has whipped my son into shape, not literally of course! But he's definitely a creature of routine now. He likes to eat at the same time every day, has proper naps, and it's a testament to grandparents in general, they are good at raising children!

3. My son started saying a couple of words: 

My writing, not Caleb's!

Caleb has really come along this month. He's been ill and actually stopped walking for three days, but his speech is developing noticeably. This month he has said "car," "dog," and has tried to say "fish" and "kiss." It's so cute! Sometimes he speaks in a really adult voice! It sounds like someone is throwing their voice and he just moves his mouth, but it's really him... The funniest time was when we were looking at eyeshadows on my phone together and just exclaimed "oh yeah!" It was a had-to-be-there moment but it was amazing, he sounded like such a little boy!

4. I feel like a real driver:

My car, Francoise

This month I drove 250 miles down to my Mum's. It was the longest drive I'd ever done, and now I feel like a legitimate driver. Now I just get in the car and go, something I never thought would happen.

5. I started a new project:

Ten points if you know what film that quote came from, it's my favourite!

This month I decided to try something new, so I've decided to write a book. It's a novel, and the kind of book I love reading. I've just started the planning stage, using a program called Scrivener and it's going well so far. If and when I finish it, I'm going to publish it as an e-book on the Kindle Store. I'm really excited about it, and 2013 is going to be the year I write my story!

This month has been depressing because of the weather, but apart from that, it's been a great start to 2013! My boyfriend is back on Tuesday, so hopefully my February Favourites will include a holiday!!!

Have a great weekend and see you on Monday!

VALENCIA... Global Style Blogger Challenge

Hi Guys,

I was recently contacted on behalf of eShores to ask if I wanted to enter a style competition to win £250 of ASOS vouchers. As you all probably know, I love a good style competition, and this one has a twist. You can read more about it here.

The clincher for me was that you had to pick a stylish city that you love shopping in...

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but I used to live in Spain. In fact, this year marks ten years since my family moved there. July 2003-September 2008, five years, and most of my teens (nearly 13-just turned 18). I loved it, learned a different language, had my own transport (a moped - Peugeot Speedfight 2 Silversport!) and became who I am today!

So, without further ado, let me present my style capital...

Valencia has the amazing Fallas festival in March, holds the Formula 1 in the summer, the Moto GP in the Autumn, and countless festivals in between. It has a great beach and so much going for it!

Most of all, Valencia was the city that taught me to shop!

I had a 30-40 stop in the city every morning and evening between trains to/from school and I used to love popping over the road to have an early morning browse! 

So... What do I love about shopping in Valencia? There is something for everyone! And I mean everyone! It doesn't matter about your budget or taste, you'll find something for you.

Before I go onto the main part of this post, here is my outfit! 

I've kept it simple. The colour scheme is my favourite kind of neutral, grey, with metallic hints of silver and champagne to take it from daytime to evening. It can be really sunny even in the winter there, so I made sure to pick out some sunglasses. As far as the dress goes, you could get away with no tights on a nice day, even in January, but on a cooler day I would add over the knee black socks, or black opaque tights. The bag is the perfect size to fit in a few small shopping items, and all my usual essentials, plus a bottle of water to stay hydrated for my whole day shopping!

Underneath the picture you will find links to each item. Fortunately, some of the items are available in the UK!

1. Cut-out shoulder dress - Zara - £29.99

2. Wayfarer style sunglasses - Mango - £17.99

3. Brooch to be used as hair clip - Stradivarius - €7.95

4. Necklace - Bershka - £14.99

5. Essence Colour and Go 140 - Beautik - €1.95 

6. Bag - Stradivarius - €29.95

7. Ankle boots - Zara - £49.99

(Some prices in £GBP because they are available to buy online in the UK) 

Click "Read More" to read the details of this post, it's pretty long!

MUA Undressed Palette

Hi Everyone,

I am so tired, this will be a quick-ish post because I need to put my son to bed, have dinner, and then have a bit of downtime before trying to get an early night! I've been trying so hard to go to sleep at a reasonable hour, but TV and the book I was reading was making it too hard!

Tonight I've got something different to show you, an eyeshadow palette! I have always thought that the New Year would be the perfect time to shake up my makeup routine, and going into 2013, I still feel like that. My favourite way to do this is with eyeshadow. It is a relatively easy way to create a look that is dramatically different from what you are used to. 

A little while ago I was on a plane and they were selling the Urban Decay Naked2 palette. I didn't buy it because anything around £30 mark isn't for me, but I set to work researching it as soon as I got home. I realised then that I preferred the original Naked Palette. That was when I came across this MUA palette on a beauty blog - I really can't remember which one it was - and I knew I had to have it! I bought it around November last year and it is beautiful!

This is called the Undressed Palette (undressed, naked, get it?) and the shades are near dupes of the Urban Decay shadows.

The packaging and shadows in the sunlight

Inside in the natural light

Numbered Swatches - Indoors

Numbered Swatches - Sunlight

The shades are as follows (not named, just numbered... how creative!):

Shade 1: Very pale peach with a slight pearl effect

Shade 2: Pale pinky brown shimmer

Shade 3: Tan matte, as you can see by the swatches, this didn't really show up on my skin

Shade 4: Mid-brown shimmer

Shade 5: Mid-brown matte

Shade 6: Gold shimmer

Shade 7: Bronze shimmer

Shade 8: Dark brown pearl with gold pearl shimmer

Shade 9: Darker pinky brown shimmer

Shade 10: Dark brown pearl with cooler brown pearl shimmer

Shade 11: Charcoal grey shimmer

Shade 12: Dark blue shimmer

I have got a lot of use out of this palette in the time I've had it and I love most of the shades. The ones I use the most are: 2,6,7,8 and 12 but I have used them all more than once, even the mattes which I HATED at first. I found them really dull, but then I realised they could be used for a really subtle daytime look. 

I'm hoping that when I improve a) my makeup application technique and b) my photography skills, that I can show you some of the looks I have created with this palette, but until then, I urge you to go and buy this!

Did I mention the price??? It retails for £4!!!! You can get this at most Superdrug stores, my local Superdrug is TINY and they still stocked it. You can also buy it online at the MUA online store. It's definitely worth buying, I would have been happy to pay slightly more for this, it's so well pigmented! For £4 this is amazing, and one of the main reasons I'm such an advocate for MUA! They bring out so many amazing products and I think 2013 will be their year!

That's it from me for this evening, see you all soon! I need to sort out a camera ASAP to get some swatches up... I didn't bring mine with me to my Mum's and the bad weather means I can't leave yet. I don't mind though, I'm having too much fun!

My Christmas and New Year in Pictures!

Hi Guys,

Happy New Year! I can't believe this is 2013! We all survived the end of the world and we've made it this far! This is the year I will be turning 23, my son will turn two, and my boyfriend will be hitting the big 3-0! 

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and that you're all feeling positive for the year ahead!

As far as New Years Resolutions go, I haven't gone mental... I would like to start making more movements towards my own polish line, and I also want to get fitter. I used to go to the gym but I didn't have a driving licence so getting there was a nightmare. Now I have a car, I don't have a babysitter! We got a treadmill for the house so I can start running, I would like to lose that last bit of baby weight, that's all! I don't like to make proper resolutions because I can never keep them, but I think mine are realistic! 

I thought that as I have been away for so long relaxing with my family, I should share some of my Instagram photos with you all. I have misplaced my camera wire, so can't charge my camera or take my photos off right now (typical) so Instagram photos are a good option! I have a horrible feeling my boyfriend has taken my cable with him offshore... I'll have to buy new one because he's gone for a month at least!

Onto the photos... Please ignore the horrendous carpet and curtains. We've only lived here a couple of weeks and the focus has been on hosting Christmas, unpacking as many boxes as humanly possible and building furniture! We want to lay down solid wood flooring and we're trying to sort out getting our one pair of huge, beautiful damask curtains turned into three pairs of smaller curtains...

Don't forget, you can follow me on Instagram, my username is @truly_polished

Click "Read More" to see the rest of this post, it's extremely long!

Festive Fridays #6

Hi Guys,

Today is my last Festive Friday post! I've enjoyed doing these Christmassy themed posts, it's been the only thing getting me into the Christmas spirit! Honestly, the last week has been so stressful. It's been jam packed with things to do, and I haven't had a spare minute to post anything. Really I should have scheduled posts but I just didn't get around to it! 

What makes me really happy is that people are still reading my blog, so thank you for your support during this busy time!!! 

This Festive Friday post is just to say...

Have a Merry Christmas!

I hope each and every one of you gets exactly what you wish for over the holiday period.

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to post over the next week and a half because my family are coming up to stay at the new house. Plus we have some furniture to make, specifically a wardrobe, my floordrobe idea hasn't been going well!

Hopefully I'll be popping in soon to show you some beautiful Christmas Day nails! That's if I have time of course...

See you soon! And thanks for sticking with me!

Festive Fridays #5

Hi Guys,

I've been a very bad blogger! This week, as I mentioned, I've been staying at my Mum's house. But we've been sorting out our old house ready to hand the keys in. It's been so stressful and we finally handed them in today! Yesterday we decided to take a break from thinking about the move and went to a swimming pool with a slide and everything. It was nice to have a relaxing family day but it meant we had lots to do today. I say we had lots to do, my boyfriend did it all!

Tonight I have another Festive Friday post and this time it's all about me! These are a couple of bits and  pieces from my Christmas list this year!

IKEA Helmer in white - £25:

Helmer in white - £25

I've been blogging since March and I still don't have the classic blogger storage unit: the IKEA Helmer. I love IKEA, it's a good day trip out (haha!) and I love the furniture. In fact, I was there yesterday before swimming to buy a new bed, our little double looks lost in our new bedroom so we got a superking sized one. I can't wait to buy new bedding, it's one of my favourite things to buy. I want the Helmer in white to match the rest of my furniture, it's all white in our room.

Yankee Candle, Large Jar, Snow in Love - £19.99

Snow in Love Candle - £19.99

In my new house, the only thing missing from the living room is a nice big candle. I love the look of Yankee Candles in their jars, and I think Snow in Love is such a beautiful smell, it's from their winter range. The link in the photo caption will take you to the page showing the whole Snow in Love range. On the Yankee Candle site, most of this range is out of stock, but these candles are widely available... Even a little card shop in town here stocks them!

Topshop Amos Boots - £62

Amos Boots - £62

I am in desperate need for a pair of boots. I got some from Kurt Geiger last year and they look a bit scruffy now, so I want something else to wear day to day. I spotted these boots in my local Topshop when I was trying on another pair that I liked. They made my feet look really long so I tried these instead and fell in love with them. They're comfy, and they can be dressed up or down. I wear boots every day in the colder months and I think these would be perfect for the job!

Baking Made Easy by Lorraine Pascale - £4.85 at Amazon

Baking Made Easy - £4.85

It's no secret that I love baking, and this is one of many baking books that I want. There is a recipe in there for lemon and blueberry mille-feuille that I can't wait to cook! I love this programme and watch it whenever I catch it on TV, the recipes look really simple and I was really pleased there was a book to go along with it! 

Mummy Mitts - £19.99

Mummy Mitts - £19.99

No, these aren't floating hands, they're gloves! I need these gloves for my son's pushchair so badly. The cold weather is really damaging the skin on my hands no matter how hard I try to keep them moisturised, so these gloves that velcro onto the handle would be perfect to keep my hands warm!

So that's it, my five picks from my Christmas list this year. Obviously my list is longer than five items (a girl can dream, right?) but I hope a couple of these things are hiding under my tree on the 25th!

I hope you enjoyed a little peek into my Christmas list, see you next time!

Have a great weekend!

......................

Before I go, I just want to say that my thoughts are with the parents of the children who lost their lives today in Connecticut. I can't imagine anything worse than losing a child, my son is my absolute world, and my heart goes out to each and every one of them. This time of year is supposed to be about happiness, and to have your happiness stolen from you by some madman with a gun is sickening. It is at times like these when everything gets put into perspective, and you realise that you can't take anything for granted, especially your loved ones.